Jan.5: God's Bottom Line

So you are tired of religious groups preaching their complicated theories? You don't want to hear anymore about denominational distinctives? You just want a bottom line from God? OK!
I have news for you. A follower of Jesus by the name of James gave a bottom-line summation of Christianity in the Bible in James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep onesself from being polluted by the world." Clear? How do you measure up to that?
The most vulnerable people in the first century society were widows and orphans; that may not be true now. In that time orphans became beggars and widows became prostitutes (to survive) but at least we have government programs geared to their material needs. Widows and orphans will need continuing love and encouragement as they work through the grief process.
The point of this is that pure religion looks around to see who is the most helpless and jumps in to make a difference. The second part had to do with not being polluted by the world. This is a harder task than helping folks. There is so much spiritual contamination afloat in the world and it sticks worse than velcro. To avoid being spotted or contaminated by the world's stuff is hard. Not being soiled and dirtied in a sinful society is a major challenge.
Sorry, there is no "holy teflon" spray to cover your hide. You have to start at the deepest spot inside. Proverbs 4: 23 (NIV) says "above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." To keep the stuff of the world from sticking to your life, the repellent is applied in the heart.
David knew this when he prayed in Psalm 51:10 (NIV) "create in me a pure heart." Still want pure religion?

" Lord, save me from talking "religious trash" to impress people when I am around
real believers. If I say "bottom line", help me to mean it and listen to the truth.
Amen"